Warrior of Time
by Sunhawk1
Summary: Another Ranma/RIFTS crossover. Ranma as apprentice to a Temporal Raider? Might be interesting. New title suggestions are welcome.


Warrior of Time  
(Ranma/RIFTS/perhaps something else crossover)  
  
Disclaimer: Ranma doesn't belong to me (unfortunately).   
Ditto for Genma (fortunately). Same for the series   
Ranma 1/2, and, of course, the material borrowed from the   
quite intriguing (esp for fanfiction) RPG RIFTS isn't   
mine either.  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
Genma stared at the cloaked figure opposite him.  
  
"Done! For those two scrolls, a hundred thousand yen, and   
the meal tab, he's yours!"  
  
The figure grunted, then nodded and raised the sake bottle,   
pouring out Genma's eleventh cup.  
  
"Agreed," said the cloaked man in a gravelly-sounding voice.  
  
Almost as an afterthought, Genma asked "What do you want him   
for, anyway?"  
  
"I'm looking for an... apprentice, and your son appears to   
have all the qualifications I'd wish."  
  
Genma nodded owlishly, attempting to show some sort of   
drunken wisdom.  
  
'Not only do I get the money and the scrolls to the dreaded   
Dragon Fist of the East techniques, I get the meal! Truly   
I am the greatest of bargainers. And the boy will surely   
pick up whatever art this gaijin has to show in a week or   
two, and then I'll retrieve him!"  
  
Genma had only recently... err... acquired a yattai from a   
Okonomiyaki peddler in exchange for an engagement, and had   
been congratulating himself in the local tavern and   
restaurant after selling the cart for the money, when he'd   
been approached by the cloaked man. He was obviously   
gaijin from his accent, and probably was ugly or deformed   
or something - he didn't want to be seen very much. He   
had sat down as Genma was on his 2nd bottle of sake and   
third entree, and had made him an offer for his son. He'd   
pay Genma in exchange for Ranma becoming his apprentice   
until he had learned all he had to teach.  
  
Genma had, in his own moderately soused mind, seen this as   
a golden opportunity stacked upon the good fortune of the   
yattai earlier, and readily agreed, especially after the   
last few cups of sake had warmed his body up.  
  
He blearily looked at his new benefactor, who was holding   
a piece of paper in front of his face.  
  
"Just sign here, and I'll pick your son up, while you   
finish enjoying your meal."  
  
A faint alarm bell started to ring in the back of Genma's   
mind, but was prompty quashed by the mention of 'finishing   
his meal.' All the same...  
  
"Uh... why do I need to sign? Isn't my (hic) word   
enough?"  
  
"No, Saotome-san." Genma didn't notice that the formal   
address was just a tad mocking. "it's to prove to your   
son that you agreed, so you wouldn't have to interrupt   
your... dinner to fetch him."  
  
Genma nodded sagely. How nice this man was... how...   
absholutely...  
  
He slumped into his arms and started to snore softly,   
giggling every so often.  
  
****  
  
Aragarn par Sothi, labeled in over a dozen dimensions as   
"highly dangerous," smirked (or did a reasonable   
fascimile of one) at the overgrown slug in front of him.   
Absolutely pathetic. His son, however, was another   
matter. He wondered if the boy was really related to   
this obese glutton, or whether the sot had stolen him   
from somewhere else. The great potential of the boy   
had caught his attention when he'd been on the lookout   
for another apprentice, his last one having left him to   
pursue wealth and power two dimensions back, and he'd   
decided to try a more... tactful... approach to   
recruiting him.  
  
Aragarn's species was known by many names in a great   
number of tongues. For most of the peoples involved,   
they were seen as dangerous at best, a natural disaster   
personified at worst. Their often megalomaniac   
tendencies (which Aragarn, for the most part, didn't   
really share), combined with their dietary habits of   
draining the vitality of people to survive, made his   
kind become often lumped with demons and alien   
intelligences of various kinds. The former was vastly   
inaccurate, while the latter less so, from a certain   
perspective.  
  
Aragarn par Sothi an Dara was a what could be called a   
'Time Demon' or 'Temporal Raider.' He wasn't a bad   
sort, on the whole. While he sought power perhaps   
almost as much as most of the rest of his kin, and had   
the stereotypical racial harshness, he did understand   
affection and honor, and his quests were more for   
physical and mental power, seeking to becoming the best   
at whatever he chose to do, rather than searches for   
political or material wealth.  
  
In this boy, Ranma, he saw a similar desire, and,   
coupled with the magical and physical potential he   
sensed, he anticipated him becoming a 'perfect   
apprentice.'  
  
Human beings occasionally seemed to justify their   
existance with such as Ranma. Many of the race seemed   
like the fat fool in front of him, never looking beyond   
the immediate gain, or cowering behind each other like   
frightened young garats (AN: a kind of animal, similar   
to a dog. The equivalent of 'cowering like frightened   
pups').  
  
Then along came one who appeared to defy the rest,   
showing tenacity and ferocity that he would expect of   
his own kin, with a few even surpassing all others to   
become truly powerful.  
  
In a peculiar way, it almost felt like how a   
gem-cutter looks at a bag of pebbles and sees a hidden   
jewel, just waiting for the right polishing and cutting   
to become a treasure beyond all the rest.  
  
Now, he'd leave this fool to sleep off the drink, and   
pick up the boy and leave, before the sot had any   
clever ideas behind his back.  
  
Although he'd love to see the man's face when he   
realized the oh-so-precious scrolls he wanted were in a   
tongue that had never been seen before on this world.   
Besides, the contents weren't worth very much; merely   
the maagically recorded of a long and tiresome debate   
on the subject of whether it would be best to dismember   
a particularly odious and foolish human who'd try to   
rob a pair of his kin, or whether slow boiling in   
half-cooled lava would be preferable.  
  
With that cheerful (for him) thought, Aragarn tossed a   
few coins (gold) on the table, and left, heading   
towards the forest clearing where Ranma awaited his   
father's return.  
  
****  
  
Author's Note: This was an odd idea that popped up in   
my head earlier today... Ranma as an apprenticed   
Temporal Warrior to a Temporal Raider (from RIFTS).   
He'd certainly be darker in many ways... this might   
turn into a cross with (what else) Sailor Moon, as I   
could see some fun encounters between this Ranma and   
Pluto, since he can manipulate time. C&C always   
welcome at deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com 


End file.
